Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Through this Bill, the Government is attempting to restructure this credit to focus it exactly on the primary carer and, exclusively, on the child to ensure that the support in the tax code goes directly to the child. I think there is an unanimous view on all sides that this anomaly has gone on for far too long. The point has been made consistently by colleagues that married or cohabiting couples face a discrimination in the tax code in that such provision is not granted to them. There is an acceptance that we must resolve this.

An issue at which we all need to look between now and next year's budget is whether we can find a new way to deal with this issue. I heard colleagues who were engaged in this issue on Committee Stage state that they had not the time to put forward a more workable solution to this issue. The Government is all ears on how we can resolve this issue but it must be done on a fair and equitable basis. We cannot discriminate in favouring of one group as against another. We are determined to ensure that-----

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